Tent



y 194.1- J. E. LARSSON 2,243,638

'TENT Filed March 25, 1940 .Ziar Pik J 45119.90

Patented May 27, 1941 UNITED STATES TENT Ios Eric Larssen, Malung, Sweden Application March 25, 1940, Serial No. 325,896

In Sweden February 9, 1939 6 Claims.

The present invention relates to a tensioning device for tents, more particularly of the type known as box-tents, marquees or the like, and has for its object to render possible rapid setting up of the tent simultaneously with affording it reliable bracing. The tensioning device contemplated according to the invention is of the type, wherein there is fitted or adapted to be fitted on at least one tent wall and appropriately on two end tent walls facing one another a bracing system for stretching the tentfabric and partly made up of rod pieces, which upon the tensioning of the bracing system from a folded or collapsed condition extend in the direction of their projection in the plane of the side wall or walls.

In order that the invention may more clearly be understood, reference is directed to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates by way of example one embodiment of the tensioning device according to the present invention and in which I Fig. 1 shows a tent, provided with a bracing device according to the invention, and duly set up in position; v

Fig. 2 shows the fitting and arms therefor viewed from the side, in the collapsed position of the tensioning device; r v

Fig. 3 is a front view of the fitting and arms with the arms in the extended position; and

Fig. 4 shows a detail.

Referring to the drawing, in the example shown the actual tensioning device comprises a fitting in the form of a plate I, on which there are mounted bearing flanges 2, for example made up of U section bars welded or riveted to the plate or even cast in one piece therewith; Arranged in the flanges 2 are arms '4 articulated on pivots 3 and made up for example of tubing, such as steel or aluminum tubing. The arms extend like the points of a star from the plate and are so arranged that their outer ends in the fully extended position coincide with the corners of the tent wall, which is to be braced by the tensioning device. The pivots 3 are parallel or substantially parallel with the plane in which the arms after being completely extended will come to lie. In the centre of the plate is provided a. hole 5, fixing hook or the like in which a rope 6, wire or the like, passing through a hole 1 in the tent-fabric, is arranged to be fixed or otherwise rigidly retained.

From the position shown in Fig. 2 the arms 4 by simultaneously pulling on the rope 6 can be swung outwards into the position indicated in dashlines by 4 and in which the tent-fabric 8 will be in a stretched condition.

Referring to the view according to Fig. l, the arms 4 are represented. in this extended position, the outer ends of two of the arms supporting the fabric of the end wall at the two corners ID at the bottom, whilst two other arms 4 support the top corners of the end wall. A further support 4 is arranged to support the ridge of the tent roof. In this extended position the arms 4 should preferably lie in a common plane or substantially in a common plane and at close proximity to the wall, so as to afford the maximum possible amount of available space in the interior of the tent.

The guyrope or wire 6 can be fastened directly to a tree, to a tent-peg driven in the ground or in any other suitable way. In order, however, to obtain enhanced bracing of the tent wall, it is appropriate for rope 6 to be connected by a part6 to the arm extending to the ridge, 'a suitably perforated disc or ring I4, or the like being slipped over the rope and to which another rope or the like is connected and can be attached to a tree, a tent-peg driven in the ground, or any similar support. the tent wall is still further improved by a rope l6, l6 also being passed through the ring [4 and attached at the ends to rings I! (Fig. 4) fastened to screws I8 which are screwed into the arms and serve at the same time to fix the tentfabric to the bracing system. Of course the fabric should be supplied with a suitable robust reinforcement at this point.

No special connecting piece need be provided between the two opposite sides or ends of the tent, although, of course, detachable longitudinal beams in the form of thin tubing for example may be arranged between the corners l3, I3 and possibly also the corners I2, I 2', if required.

It is not absolutely necessary for the arms to be kept in the extended position by the pull on the rope 6. As a matter of fact the tensioning device can also be provided with a locking arrangement, whereby the arms are fixed r'ela tively to the plate I in the extended position, as indicated by cotter pin 4a in Fig. 3, and the supporting device can also be conceived as being without any external support. The arrangement can alternatively also be so designed that the arms 4 instead of being pivotally mounted in the plate I can be rigidly connected at their inner ends to this plate and may each consist of two or more parts articulated to one another The bracing of or intenconnected together telescope-fashion, which when the tent is to be set up are extended or pushed out and fastened in some suitable manner in this extended or drawn-out position.

It will accordingly be appreciated from the foregoing description that with the aid of the tensioning device according to the invention it is an uncommonly simple matter to set up and to take down the tent, besides which in the packed or collapsed condition the tent will occupy very little space. The space requirements will be still further reduced, of course, if the arms are in themselves collapsible or capable of being folded together, although in that case it will require a somewhat longer time to set up the tent. It might be conceived, moreover, especially in the case of smaller sizes of tents that the arms 4 can be made of light wood.

In the arrangement, as described, the bracing device has been considered as being fixed in the tent-fabric, although it will readily be obvious that this arrangement is not absolutely necessary and that the bracing device can alternatively be considered as being arranged as a loose frame inside the tent, or can even be arranged outside the tent, and possibly detachably connected thereto.

In addition the tensioning device can, of course, be applied to tents of dilferent form than that mentioned above, for example for those types of small tents also in which only one vertical or nearly vertical end wall is employed. In this latter case the tent opening must be located in one of the longitudinal sides of the tent.

.What I claim is:

1. A tent including a bracing system on at least one vertical wall of the tent for stretching the tent-fabric, said bracing system comprising a fitting which viewed in a direction normal to the plane of said wall is located within the surface bounded by the edges of said wall and remote from said edges, and a plurality of arms secured to said fitting near the center thereof and to the tent wall and extensible from a collapsed condition to the corners of said wall as viewed in their projection on the plane of said wall and stopped and braced by said fitting when in an extended condition.

2. A tent including a bracing system on at least one vertical wall of the tent for stretching the tent-fabric, said bracing system comprising a fitting which viewed in a direction normal to the plane of said wall is located within the surface bounded by the edges of said wall and remote from said edges, a plurality of pivots secured to a said fitting at points remote from the edges thereof, and a plurality of arms having their inner ends mounted on said pivots and having their outer ends connected to the tent wall and extensible from a collapsed condition to the corners of said wall as viewed in their projection on the plane of said wall, said arms being stopped in their outward swinging movement and braced bythe fitting when in an extended condition said pivots being substantially parallel to the plane in which said arms are arranged to lie after being fully extended.

3. A tent including a bracing system on at least one vertical wall of the tent for stretching the tent-fabric, said bracing system comprising a fitting which viewed in a direction normal to the plane of said wall is located within the surface bounded by the edges of said wall and remote from said edges, and a plurality of arms secured to said fitting in proximity to the center thereof and to the tent wall and extensible from a collapsed condition to the corners of said wall as viewed in their projection on the plane of said wall, said fitting being in the form of a plate, and said arms being arranged to be swung in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of said plate and stopped by said arms when in an extended position.

4. A tent including a bracing system on at least one vertical wall of the tent for stretching the tent-fabric, said bracing system comprising a fitting which viewed in a direction normal to the plane of said wall is located within the surface bounded by the edges of said wall and remote from said edges, a plurality of arms having their inner ends pivoted to said fitting and joined at their outer ends to the tent-fabric, and a guyline connected to said fitting and passing through the tent-fabric, whereby pulling on said guyline outside the tent to bring said fitting nearer said wall and to swing out said arms tensions said wall.

5. A tent having a roof ridge and including a bracing system on at least one vertical wall of the tent for stretching the tent-fabric, said bracing system comprising a fitting which viewed in a direction normal to the plane of said wall is located within the surface bounded by the edges of said wall and remote from said edges, a plurality of arms secured to said fitting at points spaced from the outer edges ,of the fitting and extensible from a collapsed condition to the corners of said wall as viewed in their projection on the plane of said wall, one of said arms being extensible to said roof ridge, said arms when extended being braced by the fitting a first guyline connected to saidfitting and to the outer end of said last-named arm, a fastening member slidable on said first guyline, a second guyline connected to said fastening'member and arranged to be fixed at a point outside the tent, and a third guyline passing through said fastening member and connected to the arms extending to the upper corners of said wall.

6. A tent including a bracing system on at least one vertical wall of the tent for stretching the tent-fabric, said bracing system comprising a fitting which viewed in a direction normal to the plane of said wall is located within the surface bounded by the edges of said wall and remote from said edges, a plurality of arms pivoted to said fitting at points spaced from the edges of the fitting and extensible from a collapsed condition to the corners of said wall as viewed in their projection on the plane of said wall, and means cooperating with the pivot points for locking said arms in the extended position relative to said fitting.

JOS ERIC LARSSON. 

